Bridging the Broken Link

The Internet is a living resource; it is constantly changing. Web sites appear and disappear every day. It would be impossible for anyone to keep completely up-to-date with all the changes. Sometimes a Web server's directory structure changes a little. When you click on a hyperlink that fails to connect you to a Web page, this is known as a "broken link.

Don't lose heart! Just because a link is broken does not mean that it no longer exists. Here are some tricks for tracking down a broken link.

Climb the Directory Tree
The structure of the Internet directories on a Web page are very similar to your computer. Each slash in the Internet address tells you that you are going into a new directory (also called a folder). For example, look at the following address:

http://www.mhteachingtoday.com/tiparchive/technology/links.phtml

"tiparchive" (folder 1)

"technology" (folder 2)

"links.phtml" (Web page file)

If you get a message that a Web page isn't where it should be, it may have just been put in another directory (folder) on the Web server.

Tricks to Try

• In the address bar, click twice until you see the URL highlighted. Now you can edit it. Place the cursor at the end of the URL and delete everything past the last slash. Now press the Enter key(or Return on a Mac) on your keyboard. See the example below.

  This:      http://www.mhteachingtoday.com/tiparchive/technology/links.phtml
  
  becomes:    http://www.mhteachingtoday.com/tiparchive/technology/

  If you get a hit, you may be able to find the link to the new directory where you can find the page you're looking for. If you don't get a hit, delete the next set of words occurring after the last slash. You will be able to work up the directory tree or structure until you get to the main Internet address.

• Delete everything after the first slash to reach the main page of the Internet site. There you may be able to find a search field or site map that helps you find the content you are looking for.

This:             http://www.mhteachingtoday.com/tiparchive/technology/links.phtml

becomes:      http://www.mhteachingtoday.com/

In some cases, the page may have moved, been taken down, or changed completely, and you may never find the replacement. Sometimes you will receive an error message telling you that the server could not be reached. That does not mean that the Internet address is invalid. If you back up through the directory structure, you may very well come up with a valid Web page.

Search the Page's Title
Search engines will sometimes allow you to search for the title of Web pages. If you know the title of the Web page (for example, "Welcome to Glencoe"), you can run a search for that title. If that doesn't work, try searching for a key word in the title. For example, if you were searching for the Glencoe main page, you'd have better luck running a search for "title:glencoe" rather than "title:welcome."

Search the Page's URL
Like searching for a title, searching for a URL can turn up promising results. The reason for this is that URLs tend to have more unique sets of letters.

If you are searching for a specific page about the Declaration of Independence using the URL www.school.edu/students/mbailey/doi.htm, you can run a search using url:mbailey. This will check for any Web page with mbailey in the URL. There are probably relatively few sites with mbailey in the title, but there are many thousands that will appear in a general search for "declaration of independence."

Likewise, choose a relatively unique set of characters in the URL. In the above example, a search for url:mbailey would give you better results than a search for url:students.

Know When to Give Up
No one likes to admit that they are beaten, but sometimes the chaos of the Internet wins out. It is very possible that the Web page you are looking for no longer exists on any server, anywhere. If all your tricks to reconcile the broken links fail, it is best to cut your losses and conclude your search for that Web page.